Refrigerator car construction



May 6, 19 1- A. F. O'CONNOR ETAL 2 ,241,366

REFRIGERATOR CAR CONSTRUCTIO I Piled Ja m'. 25, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fig? ETY? O0 0 i 0 o i Q 0 Q: T 33 i G 0 zf-j if 9 IN vE/v 7'0/25 y 9 A. F. O'CONNOR ETAL REFRIGERATOR CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 25, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS M 206 I h MM M I WW IWI WHHIIII W Im m l I I l I E i I I I I I III\. I Hi III I i Patented May 6, 1941 REFRIGERATOR CAR CONSTRUCTION Arthur F. OConnor, Chicago, and George A. Hull, Highland Park, Ill., assignors to Union Asbestos and Rubber Company, Chicago, 111., a corpora.-

tion of Illinois Application January 25, 1940, Serial No. 315,466

Claims.

Our invention relates to refrigerator cars for transporting commodities of various kinds under refrigeration and more particularly to the transportation of commodities such as celery, spinach, lettuce, etc., which are generally shipped under what is known as body icing. Body icing of refrigerator cars comprises placing the commodity (such as crates of lettuce) upon the floor of the car and spraying snow-ice (finely crushed ice) over the top surface of the lading and in some cases spraying a layer of snow-ice in between tiers of lading.

Most refrigerator cars have an ice compartment in each end of the car, extending from floor to ceiling, adapted to be filled with chunk ice to accommodate certain types of lading which require end bunker refrigeration. These ice com partments or bunkers are generally permanently built in the cars with the result that, when body icing is used, the bunkers are not used and they occupy about six feet of the floor space of the car which could be used otherwise for lading.

The present invention is adapted to accommodate capacity loading of the car when body icing is employed, by providing means for folding the ice bunker to the end of car, and is further adapted to provide an ice bunker which will hold a maximum quantity of chunk ice when the type of lading requires ice bunker refrigeration. 1

An object of our invention is to provide a collapsible ice bunker structure wherein the side wall of the bunker is flush with the side wall of the lading compartment, the side wall of the bunker providing an air duct when the bunker is used for holding refrigerant and being provided with openings of sufficient size to permit the snow-ice to be blown into the air duct when bulkhead is collapsed and body icing used, providing a blanket of refrigerant within the air ducts adapted to aid in refrigerating the car and prolonging the efficiency of the car refrigerant generally.

Another object is to provide a bulkhead comprising spaced apart walls, having openings adjacent the top whereby the snow-ice may be blown into said bulkhead (between the spaced walls) when bulkhead is in collapsed position, providing a blanket of refrigerant substantially covering the area of the end of car, when car is used under body icing, adapted to prolong the refrigerant in the car generally.

1 These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical, longitudinal section through a refrigerator car body, showing the ice grate in position when the bunker is in position to hold refrigerant, such as chunk ice.

Figure 2 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing the method of mounting the bunker side wall ducts in the car wall.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken transversely of the car, along line 33 of Figure 1, looking at the bulkhead in its collapsed position and showing the side framing of car and floor rack in section.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on line 44 of Fig. 1 showing a portion of the air ducts in the side and end wall of the ice bunker.

The reference numeral I designates a refrigerator car having a movable bulkhead 2 and an ice bunker 3. The ice bunker is provided with a foraminous lining 5 spaced from the inside end wall of car, a foraminous lining 1 adjacent the side wall of the bunker in spaced relationship with side wall 9, and a foraminous floor II in overlying spaced relationship with car floor 13 of car.

Bulkhead 2 may be provided adjacent its upper margin with rollers l5 adapted to travel on track l1 when bulkhead is moved to end of car. Rollers [9 may be provided adjacent lower portion of the bulkhead adapted to roll along track 2| which is attached to the top surface of floor ll. Means for anchoring the bulkhead in extended position (as shown in Fig. 1) may comprise pivoted latch means 22 at top of bulkhead and. bolt means 23 at bottom of bulkhead.

A foraminous floor or floor rack 25 may overlie floor 13 in spaced relationship therewith, intermediate the bulkheads when the latter are in extended position, whereby to provide an air duct 21 extending longitudinally of the car underneath the lading, and in the preferred embodiment of our invention the upper plane of foraminated floors H and 25 may be flush with each other, whereby to present an even surface to accommodate the lading when bulkhead 2 is moved to end of car.

The wall lining I may comprise a metallic sheet With the plane of the sheet flush with side wall 29 of lading compartment. The metallic sheet may be perforated (as at 3! and may have longitudinally extending marginal flanges 33 extending at right angle to the plane of said sheet, with adjacent flanged edges 33a in parallel spaced relationship with the plane of said sheet, the

flanged edges 33 being adapted for securing lining 1 in mounted position adjacent wall 9 by means of fastening members 31. Sheet 1 may be provided with apertures 39, in overlying registering relationship with fastening members 31 to facilitate insertion of fastening members 31 and tightening of same, as by means of a socket wrench or screwdriver. Wall lining 1 may comprise a plurality of sheets having flanges 33 and 33a thereon, and these sheets may be secured to each other as by means of clamping members 4| extending through flanges 33 of adjacent sheets. The upper portion of sheet I is preferably perforated with elongated openings 43 whereby to provide openings through the sheet through which the snow-ice may be blown into the air duct defined by wall 9 and sheet I. The lower margin of sheet '5 may be cut away in part, as shown at 45, to facilitate movement of the descending chilled air in the side wall duct into the floor duct 21 (when ice bunker is used in extended position).

Foraminous lining 5, as shown in the drawings, extends substantially across the area of car end wall 50. and is secured in spaced relationship with wall Ed by means of spacing strips 47 but it will be understood that metallic lining 7 may be substituted for lining at end wall of'car if desired, without departing from the scope of our invention.

The bulkhead 2 may comprise a plurality, of perforated metallic sheets 48 in abutting engagement with each other whereby the adjacent sheets are in a common plane. Sheets 48 may be provided with marginal flanges 49 extending at right angle to the plane of the sheets, with re-flanges 5i extending in parallel spaced relationship with the plane of the sheet. Adjacent sheets 58 may be secured together by means of fastening members 53 extending through abutting flanges 49 of adjacent sheets. A wooden lining 55 may be secured in abutting relationship with flanges 5| whereby saidlining may be in parallel spaced relationship with sheet 48, providing a vertically extending air duct 51. Duct 57 may serve as an air duct to permit the chilled air in ice bunker to descend to the floor duct 21 (when bunker is provided with chunk ice) and may serve as a container for snow-ice when the car is used under body icing. The lining 55 preferably extends from a point adjacent floor rack 25 upwardly to a point approximately [2 inches from car ceiling 59 whereby the air in lading compartment may enter the ice bunker intermediate the ceiling 59 and upper margin of lining 55 (when the bunker is provided with chunk ice). Bulkhead sheet 48 may be provided with perforations Bl throughout its lower plane portion and may be provided adjacent its upper portion with elongated perforations 63 adapted to provide means for the blown snow-ice to enter through perforations 63 and into duct 51 (when bulkhead is collapsed against end wall of car) Foraminous floor H is preferably made in two sections hingedly secured adjacent side wall of car whereby each section may be swung upwardly to facilitate cleaning of the floor underneath the hinged floor II and whereby the floor II will be secured against misplacement and loss from the car. While floor I l is shown in the drawings as a plurality of wooden boards We contemplate the use of a foraminated metallic sheet or a gridlike metallic floor, supported on spaced apart stringers 65 which may also be constructed of metal. Stop members 6'! and 69 may be used to prevent movement of floor l l longitudinally of the car.

In the prior collapsible bulkhead structures the side wall of the refrigerant compartment was invariably provided with an inwardly extending foraminous lining to provide an air space between the refrigerant and said wall. When the bulkhead was moved to the end wall or ceiling of car this foraminous lining projected inwardly from the wall in adjacent lading compartment, presenting an offset portion in the wall which is objectionable to shippers in that the projecting wall portion cause damage to lading due to the shifting of the lading longitudinally of the car in transit. An offset in the wall of lading compartment is also objectionable in that it does not permit the orderly stacking of boxes, cartons, etc., throughout the length of the lading compartment. It will be seen that our side wall ducts are in alignment with the side wall of the regular lading compartment and that the spacing projections on the metal sheet within the duct are parallel with the natural (vertical) direction of movement of chilled air through the duct, in order to eliminate any baffling of the air in the duct and to facilitate the circulation of said air, causing an acceleration of the air movement as compared with duct having obstructions, flanges, etc., extending transversely to said natural direction of air movement, this freedom from air bafiling being of great importance in providing air circulation from refrigerant compartment to that portion of the load farthest away from refrigerant compartment.

While we have shown the preferred'emb-odiment of our invention in the accompanying drawings the same is merely illustrative and we contemplate all changes and modification which come within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having a side wall, an end wall, an ice bunker adjacent the end wall, a lading compartment adjacent the bunker, a vertical bulkhead extending transversely of the car and separating said bunker from said compartment, the inner surface of said side wall being outwardly offset intermediate said bulkhead and said end wall, a metallic sheet in parallel spaced relationship with the offset portion of the side wall and extending in a substantially common plane with the inner surface of the lading compartment side wall, a member intermediate said offset portion and said sheet having engagement with said sheet and having backing engagement with said offset portion adapted to maintain a predetermined spacing between said oflset portion and said sheet.

2. In a refrigerator car having a side wall, an end wall, an ice bunker adjacent the end wall, a lading compartment adjacent the bunker, a bulkhead extending transversely of the car and separating said bunker from said compartment, the inner surface of said side wall being outwardly offset intermediate said bulkhead and said end wall, a metallic sheet in parallel spaced relationship with the offset portion of the side wall and extending in a substantially common plane with the inner surface of the lading compartment side wall, a member intermediate said offset portion and said sheet having engagement with said sheet and having backing engagement with said oifset portion adapted to maintain a predetermined spacing between said offset relationship with the offset portion of the side wall and extending in a substantially common plane with the inner surface of the lading compartment side wall, a member intermediate said offset portion and said sheet having engagement with said sheet and having backing engagement with said offset portion adapted to maintain a predetermined spacing between said offset portion and said sheet, said sheet being apertured adjacent its upper portion and being apertured adjacent its lower portion to provide air communication means between the ice bunker and the space between said offset portion and said heet, and between said last named space and the lower portion of the car interior.

4. In a refrigerator car having a side wall, an end wall, an ice bunker adjacent the end wall, a lading compartment adjacent the bunker, a bulkhead extending transversely of the car and separating said bunker from said compartment, a convection duct formed in said side wall intermediate said bulkhead and said end wall and having two main walls, one main wall forming one of the ice retaining walls of said bunker and being substantially coplanar with the inner surface of the lading compartment side wall, the other main wall being in outwardly spaced parallel relation with said first mentioned main wall, a member intermediate and having engagement with the spaced apart main walls of said duct adapted to maintain a predetermined spacing between said main walls and prevent the ice retaining main wall from being forced outwardly by the ice in the bunker, said member extending substantially in a plane parallel with the direc tion of movement of the convected air passing through said duct whereby said member will offer a minimum resistance to the free movement of said convected air through said duct.

5. In a refrigerator car having a side wall, an end wall, an ice bunker adjacent the end wall, a

lading compartment adjacent the bunker, a'

bulkhead extending transversely of the car and separating said bunker from said com-partment, said bulkhead being movable to an upright stored position adjacent the end wall when the ice bunker is not required, a convection duct formed in said side wall intermediate the bulkhead and the end wall when said bulkhead is in extended position, said duct having an inner and an outer main wall in parallel spaced relationship, said inner wall being substantially coplanar with the inner surface of the lading compartment side wall and forming one of the ice retaining walls of the bunker, a member intermediate the spaced apart main wall adapted to maintain a predetermined spacing between said main walls, said member extending substantially in a plane parallel with the direction of movement of the convected air passing through said duct whereby to permit free movement of said air through said duct and whereby the baffling of said air by said member, transversely to the direction of movement of said convected air, will be minimized.

6. In a refrigerator car having a side wall, an end wall, an ice bunker adjacent the end wall, a lading compartment adjacent the bunker, a bulkhead separating said bunker from said compartment, a convection duct in the side wall intermediate the bulkhead and the end wall, said duct having two main walls in spaced relationship with each other, the inner main wall being substantially flush with the wall of the lading compartment, a vertically extending member intermediate the opposed main walls adapted to space said main walls in a predetermined relationship and having engagement with each of the spaced main walls.

7. In a refrigerator car having a side wall, an end wall, an ice bunker adjacent the end wall, a lading compartment adjacent the bunker, a bulkhead separating said bunker from said compartment, a convection duct in the side wall intermediate the bulkhead and the end wall, said duct having inner and outer main walls in parallel spaced relationship with each other, the inner main wall being substantially flush with the wall of the lading compartment, a vertically extending member intermediate the opposed main walls adapted to maintain a predetermined spacing therebetween, said member having engagement with the opposed main walls, said bulkhead being movable to a stored upright position closely adjacent the end wall of the car.

8. In a refrigerator car having a side wall, an end wall, an ice bunker adjacent the end wall, a lading compartment adjacent the bunker, a bulkhead separating said bunker from said compartment, a convection duct in the side wall intermediate the bulkhead and the end wall, said duct having inner and outer main walls in parallel spaced relationship with each other, the inner main wall comprising a metallic wall with its major portion in a substantially common plane with the plane of the inner surface of the lading compartment side wall, the outer main wall being in outwardly offset relationship with said inner surface, said metallic wall being provided adjacent a vertical margin thereof with a marginal flange extending toward and having backing engagement with the adjacent outer main wall of said duct.

9. The structure defined in claim 8, wherein the bulkhead is movable to a stored upright position adjacent the end wall of the car.

10. The structure defined in claim 8, wherein the said metallic wall is foraminous and wherein said metallic wall forms one of the ice retaining Walls of the ice bunker.

ARTHUR F. O'CONNOR. GEORGE A. HUIL. 

